


To Lose and to Gain

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura and Lance are Siblings, Gen, Lance's POV, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, altean!lance, i didn't even know i was going to write a fic today until i just kinda. did it, literally none of this is planned bear with me, mostly follows canon?, this is probs gonna get angsty bc im a monster, this will be multi-chapter bc idk how to oneshot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-15
Updated: 2016-11-15
Packaged: 2018-08-31 06:44:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8568259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: 10,000 years ago, an Altean prince was evacuated from his dying planet. 2 years ago, he emerged from cryo-sleep on Earth. Now, Lance is ready to return home, with his fellow paladins in tow. Keeping his status as one of three surviving Alteans a secret is something akin to walking on eggshells, and Lance isn't sure how long it'll last; or if he even wants it to.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I can't believe I'm doing this I haven't written a fic since 5th grade rip. Altean Lance was just too much for me to resist I guess lmao
> 
> this is all very unplanned so updates might be wonky, sorry :') I'll try to keep updates weekly (so I'll be posting on Tuesdays), but I'll bump it up to daily if I finish the fic before all the chapters can be posted! :D
> 
> Come scream at me on tumblr @palydins if you want (pls i need voltron friends lol)
> 
> **quick note, I'll be using gender neutral pronouns for Pidge until she reveals herself as a girl b/c lance doesn't know yet & i'm literally incapable of using he/him like... i tried but i kept fuckin up lmao

_ There was fire and death all around him. As he flew around the battlefield, Lance wanted to throw up. Every downed ally was felt in his soul, every scream like a physical wound. His people were dying, and he could do nothing. He grit his teeth, hot tears streaming down his face. Despite his father’s orders to run far, far away and keep the blue lion out of Galra hands, Lance felt that every inch away from the battle was an even bigger betrayal to his people than the one that started this bloodshed. He made a pained noise in the back of his throat as Blue opened up a wormhole before them to take them away. Away from the fighting. Away from the war. Away from his people. Away from his family. He choked back a wail of pure agony. Away from his fellow paladins that were dropping like flies. He wanted nothing more than to avenge them; to go back and give the Galran army hell. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t let them have Blue. So, with his heart heavy with grief, Lance shut the pod within Blue, sending himself into nearly 10,000 years of cryo-sleep as Blue pilots herself to a safe planet: Earth. _

_ \--- _

An urgent rumbling in the back of his mind wakes him, the noise startling him out his fitful slumber. His limbs jerked harshly, waking him fully in less than a second. It took him a moment to gather his thoughts, exhaling slowly to ground himself. He hadn’t dreamt of that day in over a year. As he stretched the sleep out of his muscles, the noise that had awoken him repeated itself.

‘ _ Blue _ ?’ he said through his link with the blue lion, concern lacing his tone. Whatever it was that Blue woke him up for, it was important. 

_ ‘My paladin, something is coming.’  _ The low rumble of his lion’s ‘voice’ reverberated in Lance’s headspace, and he paused. Something was coming?

_ ‘What sort of something are we talking about?’  _ Lance asked, sitting up on his bed. 

‘ _ Galra.’ _ she growled in reply, making his blood run cold. Shooting out of his bed, Lance quickly clothed himself and ran out the door of his dorm room. In his rush, he didn’t hear his roommate Hunk’s tired voice asking what what wrong. He raced down the halls, just barely remembering to hide away from any Garrison officers wandering the halls to enforce curfew. He couldn’t afford to be caught - not now. He bursted through the door of the roof, his heart hammering from more than just his desperate sprint. A startled squawk shocked him out of his frenzy, and he looked over to a frazzled Pidge, who was apparently already there.

“Pidge?” he questioned, looking into their wide eyes, “What are you doing up here?” His words apparently snapped them out of their stupor, and the younger cadet narrowed their eyes at him.

“I could ask you the same thing,” they huffed irritatedly, looking back at whatever technology they had in front of them, “You nearly gave me a heart attack busting the stupid door down.”

Lance swallowed thickly. “Sorry about that.” Pidge glanced back at him, mouth opening to say something else, but was cut off by a panting Hunk opening the door behind them.

“There you are!” He wheezed, coming to a stop beside Lance. “You ran out of the room so fast I thought someone was dying or something!” He gave a little breathless laugh before straightening up and looking at their shared company.

“Oh, hey Pidge. What’re you doing up this late?” Pidge sighed exasperatedly, once again turning back to their tech.

“Well I  _ was _ working on something, but  _ someone _ ,” they glared at Lance and Hunk, “Decided to interrupt me.” In another lituation, Lance would have given his teammate a comeback of some sort, but as it stood, he merely looked to the night sky, anxiety twisting his gut. In his peripheral vision, he saw Pidge roll their eyes.

“Well, what were you working on?” Hunk questioned, having gotten within touching range of the unfamiliar technology while his companions weren’t paying attention. “And where did you get this stuff? It doesn’t look like Garrison Tech.” Pidge slapped his hands away before responding.

“I built it myself. As for what I was doing,” they continued, once again shoving Hunk’s hands away from their belongings, “it was more like listening than actually doing anything.”

“Listening to what?” Lance questioned quickly, having a feeling he already knew the answer.

“Radio frequencies. More specifically, radio chatter that definitely isn’t coming from Earth.” Pidge gave a little smirk at the end, obviously proud of their findings. In all honesty, Lance  _ was _ impressed by the fact that something they built themself could pick up on alien radio waves. Hunk, however, seemed more off put than anything else.

“Woah, wait, you mean like aliens? They exist?” Despite himself, Lance couldn’t help the amusement that welled up at his best friend’s words. 

‘You’re standing right next to one, buddy,’ he mused, a small smile blooming on his face. If only they knew. Though, he supposed it would be impossible to tell, considering he did, for all intents and purposes, appear human. Altean shape shifting abilities sure did come in handy.

“Yeah,” Pidge started, snapping Lance out of his thoughts for the second time that evening, “but I can’t understand most of what they’re saying. One word keeps coming up though; Voltron.” Pidge lifts a sheet of notebook paper with the word on it, little doodles surrounding it.. Blue growled deep and angry in his mind, her worry behaving like something physical, wrapping around him and constricting his breathing. Had they been discovered? Lance felt his breaths coming in quick and shallow. Pidge and Hunk had continued the conversation, but he wasn’t listening. He couldn’t hear them over the blood pounding in his ears. The Galra were coming, and they were after Voltron. Do they know Blue is here? Impossible! He had made sure to hide her securely, suppressing her energy to avoid detection. Then why are they  _ here _ ? He was panicking, Lance dimly noted. He took in a big breath and held it before slowly letting it out. 

‘Calm down Lance,’ he thought to himself, shaking his head in an attempt to clear his mind. ‘Panicking won’t do you any favors.’ He could hear Blue purring through their link in an attempt to comfort him. Lance definitely appreciated the gesture.

“What is  _ that _ ?!” Hunk’s yell snapped him back to attention, his eyes darting towards the sky again. There, he saw it. Gritting his teeth, he stared helplessly at the ship hurtling towards Earth.

“That’s- !” Pidge gasped, hurriedly pressing a pair of binoculars to their eyes.

“A ship,” Lance said hoarsely, his throat going dry. He swallowed, his eyes never once leaving the descending ship.

“Yeah,” Pidge replied breathlessly, their arms shaking a bit from adrenalin, “And it definitely isn’t one of ours.”

“Let’s go,” Lance said firmly, determination heating his veins. If it was Galra, he needed to be ready to protect Blue, as well as whoever that ship crashes near. An alarm goes off as Lance dashes back through the door, Pidge hot on his heels.

“C’mon you guys!” Hunk yelled from behind them both,“This is the worst team bonding exercise ever!”

Despite his words, Lance can hear his footsteps fall in line behind them. The three ran until they neared an overhang near the crash site, and Pidge pulls out their binoculars again.

“Holy crow,” they bite out, and Lance takes the binoculars from their small hands. “Hey!” Ignoring their protests, Lance scans the area for potential threats, and sees that the ship in question was undoubtedly Galra - but it was an escape pod. Who had escaped one of their battleships? He couldn’t see much else with just a pair of binoculars, and he scowled frustratedly.

“We’ll never make it in there with all those guards hanging around,” he growled,  frustrated at his own helplessness in this situation. He felt his hands twitch towards his waist, and wished bitterly that he had his bayard. 

“Oh well, that’s too bad, guess we’ll just have to head on back to our dorms.” Hunk said, standing and pointing  back towards the Galaxy Garrison.

“Wait,” Pidge began, and when Lance looked over they were on yet another piece of self-made equipment, “They set up a camera in there and I was able to hack the feed. Take a look at this.”

‘Oh Pidge you wonderful child genius you,’ Lance thought as he glanced over their shoulder to see the screen, Hunk doing the same at his side. On the screen was Takashi Shirogane, one of the pilots who had been presumed dead on Kerberos last year. Lance felt shock course through his system as he looked at the man, who was furiously attempting to get the scientists there to listen to him. He was alive? Lance’s hands tightened into fists beside him, immediately knowing how that was possible. He’d recognise Galran prison garb anywhere. The man had surely gone through hell in the last year. He heard Shiro say Voltron, and the two next to him gasped. Lance’s fears had been confirmed; the Galra were looking for Voltron. He could feel the panic rising again, and he knew they didn’t have a lot of time. If Shiro was here, a battleship was likely not far behind.

“We have to get him out of there,” Pidge said firmly, not taking her eyes off of the screen as they put Shiro under.

“Uh sorry to be the voice of reason, always, but weren’t we just watching the monitor because we didn’t have a way of getting inside?” Hunk said, gesturing wildly towards the building in question.

“Yeah, but that was before we were properly motivated. We just gotta think,” Lance retorted, putting a hand under his chin in thought. “Maybe we could tunnel in?” 

“Or,” Pidge began,” we could dress up in hazmat suits and sneak in like med techs.” There was evident excitement in their tone, and Lance knew they were enjoying this on at least some level.

“ _ Or _ ,” Hunk cut in again, “We could dress up like cooks, head back to the dorms,and sneak into the commissary for a little late night snack.” Lance gave him a look.

“No, what we  _ need _ is a distraction,” he said quietly, but loud enough to be heard. Just then, multiple explosions happen a bit beyond the small building, and the Garrison soldiers positioned there quickly set out to investigate. Well, careful what you wish for, apparently. He asked for a distraction and he got one.

“Oooh what was that? Was - was that the aliens? Are they here?!” Hunk said, obviously beginning to panic.

“No, that  _ was  _ a distraction - for him!” Pidge exclaimed, pointing to a distant figure. Lance took the binoculars from his smaller teammate again and looked towards where they were pointing. There he saw  _ Keith McFucking Kogane _ riding in on a hovercraft to drop in and save Shiro. Oh  _ hell _ no. 

“Oh there’s NO way he’s beating us in there, that guy is always trying to one up me!” Lance explained angrily, shoving the binoculars back into Pidge’s hands as he leapt off of the overhang and slid down to the ground below. 

“Who is it?” Hunk called out after him as he moved to follow him down the overhang.

“Keith!”

“Who’s Keith?” Pidge yelled, jumping down after their teammates. They didn’t get an answer.


End file.
